Cultural Center and Mosque

My view by George Ryan
Not all Muslims are Jihadists, Terrorists, Fanatics, and "Death-to-America" ranters. I'll admit it is difficult to pick out those from the Muslim silent majority who SHOULD stand up and be counted, but that is not their way (and they don't want their relatives and other family members killed for doing it).
For thousands of families, Ground Zero in southern Manhattan is holy ground. Thousands lost someone they love in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and hundreds of thousands know someone who was directly or indirectly scarred by the collapse of the World Trade Center. The emotional investment in Ground Zero cannot be overestimated.

That is precisely why Ground Zero must be open to the religious expression of all people whose lives were scarred by the tragedy: Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, and more. And Muslims.

No one knows how many Muslims died on 9/11, but they number in the hundreds. One was Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old New York City police cadet, emergency medical technician and medical student. When Salman disappeared on September 11, law enforcement officials who knew of his Islamic faith sought him out among his family to question him about the attacks. His family lived with the onus of suspicion for six months until Salman’s body was identified. He was found near the North Tower with his EMT bag beside him, situated where he could help people in need.

The point of this now famous story is simple. Not every Muslim at Ground Zero was a terrorist, and not every Muslim was a hero. The vast majority were like thousands of others on September 11: victims of one of the most heinous events of our times.

But for the family of Salman Hamdani and millions of innocent Muslims, the tragedy has been exacerbated by the fact that so many of the rest of us have formed our opinions about them out of prejudice and ignorance of the Muslim faith.

It is that narrow-minded intolerance that has led to the outcry against the building of Cordoba House and Mosque near Ground Zero. It is the same ignorance that has led many to the outrageous conclusion that all Muslims advocate hatred and violence against non-Muslims. It is the same ignorance that has led to hate crime and systematic discrimination against Muslims, and to calls to burn the Qur’an.


They want to build Cordoba House as a living monument to mark the tragedy of 9/11 through a community center dedicated to learning, compassion, and respect for all people. The alternative to that is to engage in a bigotry that will scar our generation in the same way as bigotry scarred our forebears.
Three-hundred years ago, European settlers came to these shores with a determination to conquer and settle at the expense of millions of indigenous peoples who were regarded as sub-human savages. Today, we can’t look back on that history without painful contrition.

One-hundred and fifty years ago, white Americans subjugated black Africans in a cruel slavery that was justified with Bible proof-texts and a belief that blacks were inferior to whites. Today, we look back on that history with agonized disbelief.

Sixty years ago, in a time of war and great fear, tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans were deprived of their property and forced into detention camps because our grandparents feared everyone of Japanese ancestry. Today that decision is universally regarded as an unconscionable mistake and a blot on American history.

Today, millions of Muslims are subjected to thoughtless generalizations, open discrimination and outright hostility because of the actions of a tiny minority whose violent acts defy the teachings of Mohammed.

How will we explain our ignorance and our compliance to our grandchildren?

It’s time to turn away from ignorance and hatred. It is tearing this nation apart.

As I wrote in an earlier message, I've read several PRO and CON points of view on the Cordoba House Project. While I personally feel it is a bit insensitive to build an Islamic Cultural Center within the 9/11 destruction zone, they have a right to build there. However, my MAJOR issue with all this right now is that political and mob rule mentality mishandling of this issue has reached the point of asinine. This project could have ... and SHOULD have ... been handled much better and smarter than it was. Christian fanaticism on this issue has reached a point of stupidity and narrow-mindedness. Until cooler heads prevail and the political beings and mob rule mentality fade away, EVERYONE directly involved in this project should lay low before irreparable repercussions occur and serious and sustained animosity amongst Muslims and non-Muslims results. New York City can handle this issue without outside intervention.